Turn the knob, the door is stuck, you smack your face into the door. Turn the knob, the door is stuck again, you smack your face into the door, again. How many times will you smack your face into the door before considering an alternative to bruising your face?

The faulty elevators have been an issue for quite some time now, and it happens too frequently for it not to be taken seriously. It’s agreeable that technology is a fickle pickle that requires an enormous amount of TLC before being perfected, but the elevator has been around since the mid-1800s — three hundred years should be a sufficient amount of time to understand a widely used piece of machinery. To compare an elevator to an iPhone is like comparing Ray Rice to the President of the United States – both notable African American men, so they’re the same thing surely. Steve Jobs just rolled over in his grave.

Maybe we need to stop and consider that perhaps new isn’t always better. If the reason for why the elevators are embarrassingly faulty is because they are new, then find an old manual climbing shaft, the kind that requires an operator. Considering the fact that the manufacturing company is being contacted to service these elevators – campus wide – then heck, we might as well buy some vintage elevators that come equipped with operators. If we have the kind of money to spend repeatedly on the same issues, then we must have the money to also have fancy coffee kiosks – that would be wonderful.

To top this off, the fact that Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) students are being restricted is just adding insult to injury. The worst thing to say to a person panicking is to tell them to not panic. ADA students are no different from non-ADA students, we run late, we are in hurries, we sometimes only have ten minutes between classes and need to debate whether or not attempting to use the restroom before rushing to class is a chance worth taking. The struggle these students face, having to manage their time strategically, down to having to consider the location of every class into their daily routine is a lot. Then to not provide these students, all students, to deprive them of proper means of transportation to simply another floor, is just unacceptable.

As bad as all that is, there’s also the troublesome thought that elevators as unreliable as these could some day have a more serious malfunction. Now it’s doubtful that anyone will plunge to their deaths in the Humanities Building in the foreseeable future, but what if all of the electronics on the elevator failed? Imagine being trapped in a steel box with no lights, no movement, and no way to call the outside world? Just how long would it take for anyone to realize the elevator wasn’t just broken, but that somebody was actually trapped inside?

EC’s budget covers a plethora of departments and activities, overall it’s nearly a given that the one thing we all have in common is the use of the buildings and the elevators we enjoy taking advantage of. If that’s true, then the elevators should have some prioritization and be given serious evaluation, not just jury-rigged and undervalued.